Brian Kilrea used to call pre-season Canadian Hockey League rankings a joke.

Across the river, Benoit Groulx didn’t give a damn about them.

Along the same lines, current Ottawa 67’s bench boss Andre Tourigny saw no reason to celebrate the fact his 67’s are ranked 10th nationally heading into their Ontario Hockey League season opener Friday, regardless that it’s the first time in seven seasons the 67’s have even made the Top 10 List.

“Hockey-wise, the only thing those predictions guarantee us is that our opponents will be ready for us every single night,” said Tourigny, on the eve of his second full season with the club. “It’s great to have a lot of noise and expectations around us.

Right now, the only sure-thing for the 67’s is that they ice a veteran-laden roster legitimately expected to contend for an OHL title for the first time in 13 seasons, without a single player who knows what it’s like to win a playoff series in a 67’s jersey.

Sasha Chmelevski, Austen Keating, Kody Clark, Noel Hoefenmayer and Hudson Wilson form the nucleus of five 19-year-olds poised to lead a franchise ‘180,’ and that group was playing major peewee hockey the last time the 67’s enjoyed any playoff success.

“This is my fourth year here and we’ve never been out of the first round,” said Wilson, one of the 67’s big four on D, with the team coming off a perfect 5-0 pre-season with most veterans away at NHL camps. “I’m not going to jinx things and make any bold predictions but we plan on going for a very long run in the playoffs instead of packing our bags and heading home.

“We’re an older team now and that’s huge and I’m happy to finally say I am playing on an older team. It really does make it that much more fun.

“Other years, it seemed we were always going against older team and always wondering why we can’t do this?

“Once we get rolling here, we’re going to see where we fit in the league this year. I am not going to say we are the team to beat. I will say we are going to be a big contender.”

It all starts up front with the 67’s loaded with 11 veterans led by team leader Sasha Chmelevski off his 35-goal, 76-point season. Chmelevski contributes mightily to the 67s returning a core group that accounted for 147 goals or 65 of last year’s scoring. The centre i is making at statement at the San Jose Sharks camp but should return by the opening of the NHL regular season and compete for an OHL scoring title.

The supporting cast is also impressive. Overage Tye Felhaber, in the best shape of his life, should turn his 31-goal campaign into something over 40. Keating should take his back-to-back seasons of 20-plus and easily top 30. Clark’s 18 goals projects more to something north of 30. And with sophomore and pure-shooter Graeme Clarke, there’s just no telling how many he gets after 14 goals as a rookie.

Add in Mitch Hoelscher, Samuel Bitten and rookies Marco Rossi and Cameron Tolnai and the 67’s should be an offensive power-house with a power-play bordering on lethal. Oh, and don’t forget Cobden’s Jack Quinn, who played eight games last season.

Back on the blue line, the 67’s haven’t had a pair of 19-year-olds to help form a couple of shutdown pairings in years. Noel Hoefenmayer and Wilson provide that to go with 18-year-olds Kevin Bahl and Merrick Rippon, along with Nikita Okhotyuk, for whom the sky is the limit and may be the most talented of the entire group.

In goals, as much as GM James Boyd may feel pressure to obtain a 19-year-old, sophomore Cedrick Andree has earned No. 1 status to pair with second round pick Will Cranley.

“In junior, a team usually loses five- six or seven players every year to graduation,” said Tourigny. “This year, we seem more like a NHL team because we have 15, 16, or even 17 players returning.

“That means there’s going to be a lot of them looking for more ice time. My question is where do we find it for all of them?

“That’s a lot of returning players to try and pick PP and PK units, your shut down guys, your guys to start the games and end the games. That means they are going to have to fight for it.”

The 67’s ran through just about their entire training camp and pre-season with a lineup more befitting a early summer development camp.

No less than 10 67’s went away to NHL rookie camps.

“It’s a good thing to have high expectations,” said Tourigny. “That many away means a lot. It means you have a good team.

“And we want to be good every year. Not just good for one year. Our goal is to have home-ice advantage (in the playoffs) every year

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